


My Pet Merman

by thesp00kybay



Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Character Death, F/F, F/M, Levi/Eren focus, M/M, Rating Might Change, mermaid au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-21
Updated: 2015-10-21
Packaged: 2018-04-27 10:11:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,627
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5044315
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thesp00kybay/pseuds/thesp00kybay
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eren meets a creature that changes his life forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	My Pet Merman

Shimmering scales reflecting the light from above, that's all he could remember. It was a frequent dream, seeing those scales blend together in the water, the deep husky voice in his ears. He couldn't understand what the voice was saying, but he knew it was speaking to him.  
Those beautiful hands moving up to Eren's throat dug right into the flesh, ripping apart the meat and tearing through his vocal cords.

++++

Golden eyes opened as a breath escaped his mouth, the boy sitting up quickly. He panted, trying to regain his breath as he laid back and stared at the ceiling of his bedroom. _That dream again_..  
"Eren!" A voice called from beyond his closed bedroom door. "Eren are you awake?" The boy grunted, hauling himself up out of his bed to his feet. He stretched, then went to his door and opened it,

"Yeah, yeah I'm up. What time is it?"

"Almost four-thirty in the morning," his adoptive sister replied as she exited the restroom. "Did you have that dream again?" He yawned and went into the bathroom. After finishing his business, he made his way down the carpeted stairs to where the raven haired girl was waiting.

"Does it matter?"

"Well, since you were screaming, yes. Yes it does matter," his adoptive sister put her hands on her hips. Eren sighed and scratched the back of his head, ruffling his messy auburn hair in the process.

"Mikasa, God damn it," he looked into her dark eyes as she waited. "I had the dream about the water, not the one about mom." Mikasa's gaze softened slightly and she nodded,

"Well, I brewed a pot of coffee a few minutes ago. I have to go to work in fifteen minutes," she walked away to wrap her favorite scarf around her neck. "It's Monday, in case you forgot," Mikasa shot a sharp glance at the brunette, "and I _know_ you forgot. You left the Xbox on again." Eren bit his lip and avoided her gaze, crossing his arms over his chest.  
"Eren you can't keep doing this," Mikasa sighed and brushed her short obsidian-hued hair, "one of these days you're going to have to get a job too. You're almost out of school, and you're at the age when I got _my_ first job."

"Yeah, yeah, I know, you don't have to keep reminding me." Eren brushed past her, entering the kitchen and grabbing a mug from one of the cabinets. He poured some of the warm coffee into it, then took a sip. Mikasa watched him for a few more minutes before grabbing her keys off of the counter in the kitchen and walking to the front door.

"I'll see you this afternoon... Have a good day, Eren," and with that, she left.

++++  
"What's wrong Eren? You look like someone hit you with a brick," Armin, Eren's best friend, said from his side.

"Ugh, I _feel_ like it."

"You look like shit, Jäger," Jean said as he trotted up near the two. Armin rolled his eyes and playfully elbowed the taller of the three,

"Don't be so mean, Jean. He probably didn't get much sleep."

"That's right, I didn't. I was too busy beating Jean's ass in 'Left 4 Dead'," Eren smirked as he glanced over at Jean.

"Oh, bullshit! if Marco hadn't called me in the middle of the last match I would have won."

"You would've still lost, horseface!" Eren and Jean glared at eachother as the three walked into the school's wide-open double doors.

"Armin!"

"Hey, good morning Marco!" Armin smiled, waving to the tall freckled boy. 

"Armin, do you mind if I copy your math homework? I accidentally left mine at home."

"Sure, one sec," Armin turned to dig around in his backpack before finding the single paper he'd been searching for and handing it to Marco. Jean and Eren looked away from their staring contest, Jean walking over to Marco and Eren crossing his arms next to Armin. "Get it back to me by fifth period."

"Will do, thanks a ton! Bye guys!" Marco wove his arm through Jean's, causing the other teen to blush, and lead him off down the hallway.

"Those two should just date already," Eren huffed, glancing at the blonde next to him.

"Now you and I both know one of them has to come to terms with his feelings for the other, Eren." Armin began walking again, towards his and Eren's first class.

++[Later that day]++

"...As such, Mr. Jäger, I'd like for you to see me after class." Eren looked up nervously at his biology teacher, Professor Hanji, and realizing that they were looking at him as well. His face reddened as the class all looked back at him, some giggling, before returning their attention to the professor.  
The bell rang and most of the class rose to their feet and left the room. Eren stayed in his seat until the classroom was empty except for him and Hanji. Hanji's serious expression changed to a happy one in a heartbeat, smiling widely. "My favorite little nephew, Eren! How are you, dear?"

Eren let out a shaky sigh and stood, gathering his notebooks, pens and pencils. "I'm well, aunt Hanji.. Besides, I'm your _only_ nephew."

"True, true~" Hanji hummed excitedly, twirling around their desk before shuffling the papers around. "Say, Eren.. How would you like to see what I've been working on?" Eren's golden eyes brightened as he began to grin. 

__"R-really?"_ _

__"Of course! You see, my colleagues and I have recently obtained a specimen," Hanji found their keys, tugging on the pearl-white labcoat over their shoulders. "A specimen that could potentially be important to the human race," they spoke, ushering Eren out of the lab and beginning to lead him down the hallway._ _

__"That's amazing, aunt Hanji," Eren's eyes widened, "do you mind if I stop by my locker first?"_ _

__"Oh, of course dear. You remember which car is mine, yes?"_ _

__"Mhmm."_ _

__"Be quick, Eren, the more time we waste the less time there is to show you the specimen."_ _

__++++  
As Hanji drove, rain cascaded down, their pale fingers flicking the radio knob off. "Eren, you are going to love this specimen. If I were to try to explain it to you... You wouldn't believe me! We caught it a few days ago, and so far it refuses to eat anything we try to feed it. I'm afraid it will perish the same as the last specimen of its species," Hanji's voice drifted off, leaving the two in silence._ _

__It took about an hour for Eren and Hanji to reach the pristinely cleaned outer building of Titan Industries. Hanji turned off her sleek black Explorer, exiting the vehicle along with Eren. The two hurried into the building, Hanji fishing their identity badge from the pocket of their labcoat. After trotting down several flights of stairs and three elevator rides, the two finally stood at the huge metal door leading into a cold, clean room._ _

__Hanji ran their badge along a scanner near the door, tapping in a code and showing their thumbprint to the finger scanner. The door hissed, releasing sterile fog and slowly creaking open. "Come, Eren, I want you to meet my newest project," their smile grew wider as the two entered the room.  
In the middle of the room a large tank filled to the brim with water was placed. The lights high above shined harshly downwards, causing reflections to bounce off of the water onto the walls. Surrounding the upper lip of the tank was a thick metal platform with metal stairs leading to the bottom area, several desks covered with papers and a few computers lined the walls.  
Eren squinted his eyes at the harsh lighting, gaze immediately drawn to the middle of the room where the tank set.  
"Aunt Hanji.. I don't see anything.." 

__"It must be hiding, then," Hanji said with a grin, walking over to the tank and tapping their fingers on the thick glass. Somewhere in the back of the tank, something flew towards Hanji and slammed its hands onto the glass, shrieking loudly. Eren winced and covered his ears, staring at the creature in the tank.  
"There it is," the professor spoke once more, walking away from the tank and over to a desk, tapping away at a computer's keyboard. "Eren, this is my new specimen. We haven't named it yet, and we barely know anything about it.. It refuses to cooperate." The creature stopped screeching, now staring with wide, wild eyes at Eren, who slowly approached the tank._ _

__Eren's golden gaze stayed on the beast's sharp, narrow eyes. A thin membrane glazed over its eyes, much like a snake's, as it stared back at the teen. Hanji blinked and looked over their shoulder at Eren, then at the creature, and back at Eren. "Eren," Hanji spoke, "it refuses to take anything from us scientists.. but maybe, maybe it might take something from you?"  
Eren tore his gaze from the creature's, looking at Hanji surprisedly. _ _

__"Huh?"_ _

__"We've been trying to feed it fish," Hanji said, walking over to a small panel in the wall near the exit door, "since we caught it out in the ocean. We've tried everything from dead fish to living fish," Hanji slid some gloves over their hands and pulled out a squirming salmon. "Perhaps.. maybe you can get it to eat? It may be a long shot, but we haven't got anything to lose."_ _

__"O-okay," Eren said nervously, grabbing some gloves from the box setting on Hanji's desk. He pulled them on, then took the fish from Hanji. It squirmed as he padded up the metal steps and stood near the outer rim of the tank. Hanji expected Eren to kill the fish before letting it free into the tank, but instead he simply allowed to to flop out of his grasp into the water.  
"Aunt Hanji," the teen said so quietly Hanji almost didn't hear him. _ _

__"Yes, dear?"_ _

__"D-do you mind letting me sit with it alone?"_ _

__"Oh, of course," Hanji tossed their dirtied gloves into the trash bin nearby, "I need to go find some documents anyhow. If anyone comes in- and don't worry, nobody should- but if anyone does, tell them you're here with me."_ _

___"Alright.."_  
Hanji left, closing the thick metal door after leaving, sealing Eren inside with the creature. Eren hurried off to the light source switches, adjusting it so the light was far less harsh. "I-is that better?" He turned his gaze to the tank, where the beast inside was now facing him. It nodded slowly, causing Eren's eyes to widen.  
Eren quickly made his way back up to the platform, sitting on the metal and peering down into the water. "My name is Eren," the human said gently, watching the creature as it cautiously moved closer. "Hanji is my aunt.. I'm sorry if she hurt you or anything. You can understand me, right?" 

__The creature nodded once more, hovering with its head slightly above the water. Eren smiled, pulling off the gloves he'd put on earlier. "Hanji just wants you to eat.. Really, her colleagues do too. How come you're not eating?" The creature looked away for a moment, then met Eren's gaze again, silently._ _

__Eren nibbled his lip, glancing away from the beast. "Could it be that you.. you just don't like to eat meat? Or that you don't eat at all?" A crunching sound drew him from his thoughts, causing him to look over at the creature in the tank. At some point, it had snatched up the fish and had bitten into the side of it._ _

__The teen grimaced, looking away and rubbing his eyes. "Okay, you do eat meat, and eat in general," he cleared his throat, "I know you probably don't like to be called an 'it'. Do you have a gender? Or, does your species not have genders specifically?" Eren watched the creature finish eating the fish, then moved itself towards the platform. Its scaled fingers grasped onto the metal, claws scratching slightly, and tugged itself up. Eren's gold gaze traveled along the torso of the beast, taking note of its flat chest and sculpted abdomen._ _

__He took in as much as he could, the scales ranging from thin and small to thick and long. "M-male," Eren stuttered, tearing his gaze away. He noticed a notepad and pen nearby, crawling to it and writing down what he'd learnt. "Definitely male," he said quieter. He heard what seemed to be a giggle or a chuckle, causing him to look over at the creature. Eren blushed, trying to keep his gaze on the beast's eyes and realizing it was smiling at him._ _

__"Thick scales," Eren's eyes travelled down the creature's neck, "ranging to small," he cleared his throat, scribbling the notes onto the writing pad. "F-fins where ears would be... body is rather humanoid in appearance," his voice softened a bit. His eyes tore away and peered down at the writing pad in his shaking hands. A gentle, purr-like hiss came from the creature as it neared him, silver eyes drawn to the paper in the human's hands._ _

__Eren watched with interest as the beast hauled itself up onto the platform, shifting its body towards him. As he watched, the medium-sized scales on its torso began to shift, something Eren would equate to when Mystique of the X-Men series transformed, and began to reveal pale flesh. The thin scales on its head changed as well, and soon its full upper body was completely different.  
Tan fingers trembled as the teen wrote down the occurance, "P-possibly has other forms, defensive state and," his gaze finally met those of the creature that neared him. Silvery-blue stared back, slowly blinking with normal and reptile-like eyelids. "A-and... beautiful.. eyes..." Eren swallowed thickly, feeling his face warm up._ _

__The creature chuckled again, deep voice sending shivers down Eren's spine. The creature's appearance was much more human above the waist, but below was a scaled, very fish-like tail. It seemed to be more... Mermaid- mer _man_ , rather. Dark, varying sized scales leading downwards to a finned tail. The light seemed to glisten off of the slick flesh, a small portion of the creature's tail resting in the water.  
Eren's gaze lifted up to the other male's neck, spotting several lines along the sides- gills, perhaps? Warmth spread through his body as he watched the male's tongue dart out from between his lips, trailing along his lips to remove any stray blood from the fish he'd eaten earlier. _ _

__Eren swallowed, trying to overcome his nervousness, and wrote on the notepad that the creature had a set of razor-sharp teeth, dark colored gums, and a long black tongue._ _

__"Eren!" The creature's appearance shifted quickly back to the way it was earlier, his more human looks hidden by the thick protective scales of his other form. Hanji bounded into the room happily, holding onto a messy stack of papers. "Eren, was that..."_ _

__Eren stood up shakily, nodding. "Y-yes, aunt Hanji," he looked over his shoulder, watching as Hanji ran up the metal stairs. "I was able to get some information from him... And he ate, too."_ _

__"He? It's a male?" Hanji tilted their head, blinked, peered into the tank, then grinned wide. "You talked to it! Oh Eren, this is amazing," their pale fingers grasped onto the notebook Eren had been scratching notes into. Chestnut brown eyes scanned the words and Hanji bounced up and down. "This is tremendous! Eren," Hanji grabbed their nephew's shirt, smiling excitedly. "Eren, as the lead researcher in this facility, I hereby put you in charge of this creature. Study him, feed him, record your information. Come with me, we'll get you a badge.."  
++++_ _


End file.
